Who Dreams for Ranma?
by Chaos Orchid
Summary: The Great Curse has been working through the generations for millennia towards the Great Cataclysm. All of the important people in Ranma's life are linked together, all of them having been cursed at Jusenkyo at least once in their previous lives. The Who Dream of Ranma? stories are about its detours.


The _Great Curse_ were my very first stories were begun years ago, before I even _knew_ there were fan fictions.

WHO DREAMS OF RANMA?

1) The Fiancé Fails to Arrive:

"I HATE BOYS!" Akane's Imaginary Ranma

By Chaos Orchid

Thunder crashed and rolled outside. The dark hallway was often lit by lightning flashes. The rain could clearly be heard.

A shadow moved: Slowly, menacing.

Suddenly there was a scream!

"What!? Oh, Man! GEEZ! It was only another of those stupid dreams. Only a dream..." a boy's voice came from the other side of the Japanese style door.

"Man! If _only_ I didn't have any more of those weirdo nightmares! I just want some sleep!"

Sounding like he'd flopped back down on his futon, he said, "Hmph! Everybody's always gettin' after me: I wish **they'd** have my kind of nightmares! That'd show them."

A series of lightning flashes lit up the hallway: Nabiki Tendo was sleepwalking.

No; from the vacant gaze she had, it was a trancewalk.

The thunder boomed! It seemed to roll down the corridors of time. The veil between alternative worlds opened.

[][][] DDD [][][]

In the _Tendo School of Anything-Goes Martial Arts_ dojo, a teenage girl was focusing her frustrations on stacked cinder blocks that spanned two other blocks. She wore a red-belted yellow do-gi.

"Ha-yiiya!" she yelled out as she karated the blocks, breaking them, sending their pieces flying, and bouncing off the polished wooden floor, scratching and denting it.

"Hoo-wa! That felt pretty good!" she said, wiping the sweat from her brow. Flash!

"There you go again, Akane!" Nabiki said lowering her camera as she stood at the dojo's doorway. "This is exactly why the boys think you're _so_ _ **weird**_!"

"So why should I care, Nabiki? Not everybody thinks the whole world revolves around, **Bboys!** " her anger was back as she practically shouted the dirty, rotten word.

"No?" Nabiki checked her laugh. "Then I guess this wouldn't interest you," she said, turning around, and walked down the dojo's steps; her hands behind her back, having made the camera disappear.

Akane fell to her knees, and scooted over to follow Nabiki's back as it went towards the house. Hunh?! She couldn't've seen what she thought she had seen. She didn't believe in visions.

[][][]

After their, now, father figure's announcement, a cold silence filled the spring-lit room.

And it seemed to go on and on...

"Well, **I'm** not going to sit around waiting for some boy," Akane announced. "Call me when the company gets here," she said, rising up.

"I'll be soaking in a hot tub; I'm beginning to tighten up," she said, rotating her shoulder while holding her biceps.

"Akane!" her father said, caught between an order and a plea.

"Let her go, Daddy," Nabiki said. "I've got a feeling your Ranma isn't going to show up."

"But —"

"Yes, Father. Ranma isn't coming," Kasumi said.

"Since when are you ever so definite, Sis?"

"I just seem to know."

"Really? Me, too!"

"May I finish dinner, now, Father?"

"Then that's it," Mr. Tendo bowed his head. "After our years of hoping, Genma's and my plans are not to be realized," he sobbed.

[][][]

Nabiki was back in her old clothes, leaning against the edge of a kitchen counter. "I don't know why I was getting so excited; but lately, I can't seem to get boys out of my mind."

"Really?" Kasumi said, back to working on the dinner. "I haven't thought much about men, lately. Maybe it's just your, you-know."

"It's been nearly a semester. As for 'you-know', I've lost track."

"Oh, Nabiki. You should never let that happen!"

"Why not? It's not there's been any reason to know."

"Still: You never know."

"Oh, I think I'd know. I seem to getting good at knowing things I shouldn't. And so have you, right?"

"If I have, I'd rather not know about it. I like being surprised. (Though not about 'you-know', of course.)"

"I wish I could be surprised more. Life's starting to get boring."

"You were surprised by Father's news."

"I still knew a boy was coming here without Daddy telling me. But: Yeah! Maybe that's why I was excited. Maybe whatever our problem is it's going away."

Akane was returning to her room from her bath. "Imagine Dad trying to do that to us! Why didn't he just bring in a marriage broker!?" She was so p.o.'d she was talking to herself. "Sao,to,me? Why not Akane, ... Kogane? Kasumi Matsumi? Nabiki Hibiki?!"

She opened the door to her room. "Maybe I'll keep my own name! If I ever get married, that is. And I haven't seen much reason yet to get married."

She paused on the other side of the door, and leaned against it, shutting it; she was having a flashback.

She was a little girl again, running towards her family, sitting on a blanket laid out on a grassy country hill beneath a shade tree. The birds were singing, and she was laughing.

"Come and eat your lunch, Akane!" her mother called.

"I'm coming!" she laughed, as she ran up to her, and hugged her mommy.

"Here," her mommy said, handing her a pretty oval food box.

And when the little girl opened it, it was full of some of her favorite foods!

"Mmm, it's good! Thank you, Mommy!"

"Really? Do you like it?"

"When I grow up, I want to cook as good as you, Mommy!"

"I believe you. Someday you will. You **are** Mommy's little girl, aren't you?!"

[][][]

No longer a little girl, Akane closed her eyes, and whispered, her anger replaced by sadness, "I'm sorry, Mommy. I'm not the daughter you'd hoped for."

[][][]

Akane was in her jogging outfit when she entered the house the next morning.

Nabiki was waiting for her, leaning against the foyer wall across from their front door. "Why didn't you do your usual jog today?"

"I went out. I jogged," she frowned a bit, annoyed.

"Then why aren't you sweaty?"

"What interest is it to you what I do!" she dismissed her, stepping out of the door well.

"You had quite a dream last night, didn't you?"

"Just another of your hunches," she said, heading for the stairs.

"No. My room is next to your room."

That stopped her. "What!? I, I didn't..."

Nabiki straightened up. " "Ranma! You jerk! How **dare** you run out on me!" " she went through the motion. Akane became red.

"By the way, Sis, what did Ranma look like? Was he cute?!"

Akane turned around, "How should I know?! Who sees stuff like that in dreams?!"

"Well, if anybody could, I thought it'd be you," Nabiki said, crossing her arms.

"Aren't you missing breakfast, Nabiki?"

"Daddy's in there doing 'you-know-what'," she motioned with her head to the room down the hall.

"No. I don't 'know-what'!"

"Boy, you are hopeless, aren't you? Why doesn't he visit the dojo much? Why does he stay in the common room so much? How many years has he been doing 'you-know-what', and _**you**_ don't 'know-what'? Yeah, right."

"I don't care what he does. I have my own training methods!"

"See? You **do** 'know-what'!

"Well, anyway," she said, turning her crossed arms into something of a self-hug, "he's been at it all night, this time. This Ranma's not coming has really gotten to him."

"And how much thought did he give us!? Engaging us to some old training buddy -Without even bothering to find out how old the son is! Or even if he's, a boy at all!"

"And who told you any of this?" Nabiki said with a glint in her eye. "Gotcha."

As Akane stormed upstairs, Nabiki asked herself, " "…Or if he's a boy at all"?"

"Hurry, Akane! You'll be late," Kasumi said, holding Akane's schoolbag at the bottom of the stairs.

"Has Nabiki gone?" Akane asked, hurrying down the stairs in her school uniform.

"You know she has. I put in something extra for you."

"Coward!" Akane complained. When she took her bag from Kasumi, she smiled. "Snack money!" she said, hefting the bag as if she could feel the added weight. "Can we afford it?"

"I expect to find some found money today," Kasumi smiled for her.

Akane smiled. "Even if it's not true: Thank you, Kasumi! I won't spend it unless I have to. 'Bye!" she said, hurrying out the door, tearing just a bit.

Akane ran to school.

The more she ran, the more she frowned.

Something was missing...

She looked at the blur of walls, and then the fence that ran along the river levee.

On an impulse, she leaped up on the link fence, and without slowing a step, continued her race.

She didn't get very far.

Only a crooked knee over the rail and a quick hand saved her from splashing into the water below.

"Ooorr! I can't let anybody see me like this!" she told herself, pulling herself up, up—

She landed her feet on the rail, and teetered for a moment. And in that moment, she found her balance.

"I, I _can_ do this," she said, first walking on top of the fence, then hurrying, jogging: She ran over the footbridge by the railing.

"Yes! How many boys can do that!?" she chortled, jumping down as the fence was about to end.

Splash!

She had cold water thrown on her by an old lady ritually cleaning the path to her home.

"Well, thank you again, Dr. Tofu, for the towel," Akane said before she closed the clinic's front door.

She hurried from there, but paused when she was sure she was out sight. "If only you were interested in running a dojo, Doctor." She fought back her heartache with anger: "Then I wouldn't have to face being stuck with some boy!"

"Hmmph!" she snorted, turning with a stomp. "Boys!" she swore, hurrying off.

The school's big clock said 8:24.

I can make it, she told herself, speeding up.

Nobody was between her and the gate, nor it and the main entrance.

Maybe... Maybe there won't be any boys. Please, don't do it to me today: I'm **not** in any mood for it!

But as if the warning bell were a signal, a swarm of boys, dressed in all the club uniforms and costumes, rushed out towards her.

"I hate boys! Hate boys! Hate boys!" Akane _charged_!

"Whoa! She's never done **that** before," Nabiki said, straight-arming herself off the sill. One of the strongest hunches she ever had came to her!

She grasped something in her fist: "What's the opposite of a guardian angel: A demon."

[][][]

"Engaged?! Akane's, Engaged?" the kendo master was now in the school's uniform.

"Unh-hunh. His daddy and my daddy agreed: Akane's going to marry one Ranma Saotome and carry on the dojo," Nabiki told him.

"Mmm-vah! I'll not allow it!"

"Kuno!" the teacher yelled, throwing a chalk eraser that hit him squarely between the eyes. "Kuno, go stand in the hall."

[][][]

Akane was out in the hall in front of her homeroom, all-alone, contemplating the bucket she was holding.

I must be having some Zen experience; it's only water, she thought, looking beyond her reflection. I must be getting good at Dr. Tofu's technique.

"Akane, Tendo!" She heard Kuno clattering down the hall towards her.

She looked up, and saw Kuno coming down the hall, dressed again in his kendo-gi, and using his wooden sword this time as a yoke to shoulder two buckets of water. "Akane Tendo! Tell me it is not true!"

"What are you going on about now, Kuno-senpai?"

"Tell me you art not engaged! Only from your own lips could I hope to believe such a low rumor!..."

"Engaged!? Who told you I was engaged?!"

"Your own sister, Nabiki, did so inform me."

"She did?! And **who** did she say I was en, gaged to?!"

"Do not play coy with me, Akane. Who is this Ranma Saotome to you?!"

"Ranma..." Suddenly Akane became **really** mad. "He's the guy dad fixed me up with! Just to save his dojo! And you know what?! –I'd rather _marry_ him than **date** You!"

"Wwhat?! You can not be serious! If it's an arranged marriage you desire—"

Kuno got out of the way just in time.

Splash!

"Don't **any** of you get it?! I hate immature boys! That's why I would marry the guy: To get you all to- _Leave me alone!_ "

Suddenly the windows between the hall and the homeroom slid open; the boys stuck themselves out of one, the girls the other, all trying to talk at the same time.

"Marry!?" ; "It can't be!" ; "I never thought it'd happen to you!" ; "You can't be serious."

"When is it going to be, Akane?!" ; "While you're still in school?!" ; "Is he cute?!" ; "I can help!"

"Wait! This just happened! It came out of nowhere!" Akane backed away. But not all the way.

"Then there is still time to aplenty to best this interloper, Ranma Saotome, and make you my own bride!"

"Bride!? Now, wait a minute, Kuno—"

"Inform this Ranma of my challenge, Akane, my intended. Tell him failing to reply forfeits thy hand. You shall yet be mine!"

"What!? Don't **I** have any say in this?!"

"This is a fight between men. And he would be **no** man, if he does not show to meet his match, and would **prove** himself unworthy of your hand, Akane."

And with that, he turned and strode away.

"How dare he!" Akane cried, throwing her empty bucket clanging to the floor.

[][][]

"Hiding from me, Nabiki?!"

"No. ' Just thought it'd be better if we were alone," Nabiki said, standing by the outside pool, filled with water despite the wind.

" **Why'd** you go and tell everybody I was engaged?!"

"I finally figured out why I've been so boy-crazy lately: You."

"Me!?"

"Most of the boys in school want to date you, Akane. You, and only you."

"That's their problem."

"And I've heard them talking. They want to date you. Just date. That's not normal."

"The boys in this school **aren't** normal."

"That's right: They're not normal. Nobody in this school is normal anymore. **I'm** not normal. Being loopy over boys is **so** out of character for me. I hate it!"

"And I have being attacked every day."

"Then stop it."

"What do you think I've been **trying** to do?! But no matter how much I beat them up, they come back for more; the masochists."

"And it's only going to get worse: It **has** been getting worse. Every day, more and more boys join in. It has become a matter of pride, pitting club against club, seeing which can claim you for its own! Akane you have to stop it while there's still time!"

"And you thought telling them I was engaged would stop them?"

"I, I don't know. I had to try something. But you must know what to do: Use your power to find some way out of this!"

"My power?! Come on, Nabiki! You **really** don't believe that curse stuff of Dad's!?"

"You'd believe, too, if it weren't for that Zen technique you're learning from Dr. Tofu."

"How'd you know that!? I haven't told anybody about it."

"See?! I have powers, too. So does Kasumi. But ours aren't as good as yours! Use them. Save us."

"Don't be ridiculous! I refuse to even think about such things. Dr. Tofu says unless I stay focused on the present, I could become clumsy. And that's the **last** thing a martial artist wants!"

Nabiki gave up. "I can see the more I talk, the more stubborn you'll get. Well(Sigh!), I planted the seed."

[][][]

Akane stood before the school store. Her stomach growled.

I should never have skipped breakfast. But I just couldn't face Dad. I guess I can forgive him, but not yet." Her stomach Growl! "Kasumi **did** give me money. Did she 'foresee' this? If she did, Akane smiled, I can go ahead and get something to eat.

"So, Sayuri, how was your date?" Yuka asked, turning the hall corner with her and Makoto.

"Pfff! All the jerk could think to talk about was Akane Tendo."

"Him, too?!"

"At least you had a date," Makoto said.

"Yeah. After I asked **him** out, and I don't even really like Aturo."

Akane started to walk away from the approaching girls.

"Hey! Akane. Want to join us?" Yuka called.

"Hunh!? You **want** me to eat with you?"

"Of course! Why wouldn't we?"

"Just 'cause the boys are rude, doesn't mean you have to be," Makoto said.

"But, but, uh, didn't you say, the boys..."

"They're boys. You're our girl friend, aren't you?"

"Sure..."

"I'll treat," Yuka coaxed.

"May I ask you something? This may sound strange, but do the other girls hate me?"

"Hate you!?" ''Yes: That is a strange question."

"Why would _any_ body hate you, Akane?" Miyo said.

"Everybody likes you. Even Makoto." , "And what is **that** suppose to mean?"

"I even heard some girls'd like to date you themselves!" Yuka giggled.

Akane was stunned: Nabiki is right!

[][][]

Akane laid her hand on a tree near the pool. The breeze was stiff.

I, I never realized things had gotten so...strange! If I have these powers Nabiki says I have, shouldn't I have noticed it before? Could my Zen technique really be interfering with them?

No! Ever since I started practicing it, I've gotten much better as a martial artist. And that's what I've always wanted to be, ever since, ever since…

A memory from ten years ago almost surfaced again, almost made her cry again.

Akane weakly grasped her hand together. She turned around and fell so she was leaning against the tree, as she dropped her hand. It dangled by her side.

Things have got to change. Mom wouldn't've wanted me to go around beating up boys. "You shouldn't pick on the weak".

"Boys weak?! Pha!"

Akane crossed her arms. "If I really hate boys, I shouldn't want to have **any** thing to do with them. Hitting them means I have to touch them. If I can get them to leave me alone, I'll never have to, have to..."

She bent her head. "Why?! Why can' boys treat me like a girl? Just 'cause I'm the martial artist daughter of martial artists, I'm not girl enough to be treated like a female?"

Akane looked down; something had blown against her foot. "A wig?" A cheap, bright red wig.

"That's it! It's got to be a **boy** who defeats them! **That** they'll understand."

She picked up the wig and held it up in front of her. "Ranma Saotome, you're about to become my champion!"

[][][]

"Dr. Tofu! It's me, Akane! You free?!" she called from the lobby.

"Akane!" the young looking man said, coming out of his office. "You're always welcome. What can I do for you? ' Injure yourself again?" he smiled.

"No, not lately," she smiled back. "But I need a favor; I need a special technique; one that I can use without people knowing it's me!"

"My, that is some favor. And if it were anybody else but you, I'd say no. Special techniques are not parlor tricks. But since you don't ask for special techniques without first mastering the one I showed you before, I assume you've just about got the Zen technique down."

"Uh, well, not really, Doctor. I still get distracted. But I try to remain focused on the here and now, to become one with my body and surroundings, so I can, one day, make full use of my potential. I want to be as good a martial artist as you, Dr. Tofu!"

"I believe you. Someday you will. You **are** one of the most dedicated martial artists I've ever coached."

"I have a very good reason why I need the technique. It's **really** important!"

"But you can't tell me what it is."

"No, Doctor," she said, ashamed to have to keep secrets from him. "I can't. You'd just, well, just..."

"Okay, Akane; you don't have to tell me yet. When you're ready. Come to my library; if it's there, you can borrow it. Now, exactly what did you have in mind, Akane?"

[][][]

"Hyiia! Hayiia! Yia! Yia!"

Akane was in her yard, her back to the back door of the house, the dojo to her right. She was dressed in her yellow do-gi. She was hot and sweaty.

"Hyiiaa!" she cried again, putting all of her strength into throwing something most wouldn't see.

She frowned, then started throwing in rapid succession, "Yia, yia, yia!"

"That isn't the way," she told herself, as she took a break to catch her breath.

"Well, Doctor," Akane had said, as she had followed him into the back room, "I need to do the fighting, but it has to seem as if somebody else is doing it; understand?" She wasn't quite certain **she** really understood.

"Ah, the "Magician's Ploy"!"

"Yes! That sounds like it!"

"Then may I suggest a "Mah-jong" technique?"

"Mah, jong? Fight with game tiles?"

"No," he smiled at her innocence. "Many things are represented on the tiles, every one of which can be turned into a weapon."

"Really!?" Akane was awed, despite belonging to the _Anything-Goes_ school.

"Anything can be turned into a weapon if you know how."

"And what is the technique?"

[][][]

Akane composed herself, and did some breathing exercises in her backyard.

[][][]

"Everything is different. There is no **one** technique."

"Oh..." Akane had been very disappointed.

"See this shelf," Dr. Tofu said, putting his hand on it. Akane looked at the set of matching books. "Each volume deals with a different class of objects and gives minute detail on how each of the _things_ in it may be turned into weapons. And this isn't even a complete set."

"But, Dr. Tofu! I only need to make one thing my weapon."

[][][]

All I have to do is specialized, Akane told herself, as she refocused on the object she held in her hand.

[][][]

"Even limiting your training to one object, means years of practice. These books only _suggest_ how to attain the technique; for your own body is part of the equation. You must become familiar with your body; you must work on your Zen technique more before you can really make use of a Mah-jong technique."

"So that's why you told me about this special technique. I **need** something I can use **now!** "

[][][]

Out by herself, Akane told herself, What kind of 'Magician's Ploy' is it, if people notice me throwing? I have to be more subtle.

"Martial arts should be about more than just fighting. There's a spiritual side: It opens your senses to what's around you, letting you become more one with nature.

"The books say, that once you master one thing, it becomes easier to master others, because you have started to appreciate the essence each object carries."

"So what you're saying is you won't help me," she had been very disappointed.

"I'll help you. If it's a matter of life or limb, I'll gladly second you, Akane."

"No; no thank you, Doctor. It, it's nothing like that," she said truthfully. It may be worse; but he wouldn't approve of how she was going to deal with it. And that **was** the way she was going to do it. She had to.

[][][]

"I just have to learn to do make **one** thing be my weapon," she said, bending down, and gathering up some more grass.

"I've got powers, right? I just have to put them to work learning what I did wrong, and making sure I will not make the same mistake again. Simple, right?" she said sarcastically to herself. "And all while staying grounded in the here and now."

Taking one of the grass blades in her fingers, she aimed at the cans she had lined up on the ground near her.

"Just keep focused on the present... while you, extend yourself... into the past, and the future..."

Her hand moved the blade as an Englishman would a dart as he prepared to toss. "The only thing in my little universe is my actions, nothing else..."

Tpp!

A can tipped over.

[][][]

Nabiki answered her door. "Aren't you tired? Staying up all night outside, knocking over your cans, and breaking your bottles?" Nabiki said, still in her pajamas, and still not quite awake.

"No!" Akane smiled, already in her school uniform, and looking fresh. "It was like I was in a, a 'time bubble'; nothing existed but me and my actions against my targets. It was so exhilarating! I've never felt more like a martial artist in my life, and I'm afraid to sleep: Afraid I might lose it."

"So you decided to share your sunshine with me."

" **You're** the one who warned me of the danger! ' You going to help get us out of it or not?!"

"Okay, okay! But does it **have** to be so early in the morning?"

Akane pushed her against the door, and Nabiki backed out of its way. "I wish I were awake enough to know what you think you're doing in my room."

Akane headed for her closet. "I know about your costume rental business, Nabiki."

"Oh, is that all. Go ahead; what's the good of it, if nobody's dating. Hey, where'd you get that wig?"

"I found it."

"Really? Maybe you're getting the knack of finding stuff, too," she said to the sister rummaging through her things. Akane pulled out a ballerina costume, a "Rassle Queen" bodysuit, a policewoman's uniform, and a bunny suit...

"This is it!" Akane said, sounding like she'd found treasure. She lifted out a green Mao coat, pants, and a cap with a red star on it.

"Yuck! I didn't know I had anything like that in there. You can **have** it."

"Thanks, I will," Akane said, raising off her knees with the stuff.

"This get-up is going to save the day?" Nabiki said skeptically.

"Yep," Akane's face lit up when she saw some sunglasses laying on Nabiki's dresser. "This is my "Ranma Saotome"!" she said, picking up the blue-tinted eye-covers.

"Aren't you overdoing it? Who's going to believe he'd look so weird?"

"Nevertheless, this is what he looks like!" Akane sounded certain.

"Red hair, blue eyes, Chinese clothes... He certainly stands out in a crowd, doesn't he? Definitely **not** cute."

That shook Akane for some reason. "Boys'd think he's very cute!"

"And _why_ would **boys** care if another boy is cute?

"—Are you getting something?! Is Ranma some kind of a pervert, too?!"

Akane closed her eyes, and shook her head violently, as she pulled at the things she was holding. "Don't ask me anything more! I want to stay in the zone, stay in Zen! I have the most important fight of my life coming up, and I still haven't found my trademark!"

"Trademark? You mean the technique you'll be known for? But last night—"

She now pushed the things in her hands together. "Yesterday, I tried a lot of things, trying to find the one I could commit to. I'm pretty good at using a number of them. But I'm not good enough to rely on _any_ of them as a weapon: **Not** when doing a "Magician's Ploy"!" her nerves were starting to show. She was leaving her zone of excellence.

"Well, put it off, then. Your duel for your own hand in marriage can wait until you have."

"It, it can't," Akane said, running for the door, clutching the costume in her bosom.

She almost ran into Kasumi out in the hallway; Kasumi held up her hands, and slowed Akane to a stop, and held her there for a moment.

Akane looked up at her, unable to say a word; her eyes were shining with unshed tears.

"Akane, what could- Oh, my: That hair. Those, those clothes... No, Akane, no! You mustn't; whatever it is you're planning to do: You must not!"

"Ka, Kasumi; I, I know you see the future; and what you see is probably bad –But I have to do this! It is the only future I **can** see now. I'm locked in on it: It's my destiny!" she cried, her tears flowing now, as she broke away from her big sister's grasp.

"Akane!" she called after her retreating little sister. But she had turned the corner and could be heard running down the stairs.

"You won't change her mind," Nabiki said, standing in her doorway. "She's too stubborn: Rightly or wrongly, she's convinced this fight is her destiny; a defining moment in her life."

"I know," Kasumi said sadly. "And she's right: It will change her life."

"Oh?! What do you see for her?"

"It's gone. And if I can't change it, I, I don't want to know what it will be. Why live with something any longer than you have to? I'll just forget about it. And Nabiki?"

"Yes, Kasumi?"

"Please don't be there. I'll be needing you after today."

[][][]

Akane leaned against the wall at the bottom of the stairs, gathering her composure. She wiped her eyes with the back of her arm.

"Courage!" she told herself. "You can meet your destiny, or run from it. But a martial artist must be prepared to lay down her life at all times."

She gathered the clothes, making a bundle out of them, holding the other things inside; she headed for the inner hall. " ' Have to carb-up, if I'm going to fight today."

She stopped at the entrance of the common room. She saw her dad, sitting in a meditative pose.

Hmmph! Lost in his own little world, Akane threw her head up and hurried on towards the kitchen. And I bet there are no 'daugh,ters' in it at all.

Akane wasn't carrying her schoolbag this morning, but, instead, had a plastic grocery bag she'd gotten from the kitchen.

I've got to get back into Zen! Whatever object I choose will be next to useless unless I'm there for it, totally; I have to feel what I'm doing with it is just what I need to do with it because it matches the feeling I had when I had my best shot. ' Like threading the needle; and the present is the eye!

But she was distracted by a noise, a rustle: The small sound in her surroundings that a martial artist's training screamed—

"Okay! Who's there?! Show yourself while you can!" she challenged, pivoting around, and setting herself in the fight-or-defend position.

"Don't hurt me, Akane! It's just me!" a frail voice cried, rising from the morning shadows shrouding a pile of garbage bags in front of a wall with two corners instead of one because of a misplaced telephone pole. (A sign read, "This is **NOT** a trash collection site! Thank you!")

"And **who** are you?" she said to the boy dressed in her school's boy-type uniform. "Am I supposed to know you? And **why** are you going to school so early?"

"There is no reason for you to know me, Akane Tendo. I'm just one who worships you from afar, and who must remain content to remain so. I'm Freshman, Group F, Hikaru Gosunkugi."

"Are you going to try and fight me? Is this an ambush!?"

"Oh, no, My Akane! I wouldn't **dare** imagine that! I, I am totally unworthy. Look at me: Do I look like somebody who could take _any_ body on in a fight?" the rail-thin boy said.

"Hmmph! Strength shouldn't matter much in martial arts if you have the right technique. How do I know you're not just using sickliness as a ploy?"

"Beat me up, then. If you're the one who does it, Akane, I would gladly suffer it."

"You **are** pathetic, aren't you," Akane said, relaxing much of her pose.

"Yes; that's my destiny. I come to school early so I can hope to avoid bullies."

She made to turn away from him. "I'm sorry, but I have my own -What!?" She stopped cold. "You're him! You're part of my destiny!" she spun and faced him.

"I...am?!" Hikaru dared to hope somebody wanted him: And it was his girl idol!

[][][]

Akane and a redheaded boy in green clothes and blue glasses were out behind the school pool, near a tree.

"A **date!?** You'll allow me to **date** you!" the boy amazed, as Akane re-buttoned the coat he'd been too excited and nervous to do it up right.

"Okay. Call it a date: A "dojo date". You pretend to be Ranma Saotome, and I'll see to it you won't have to be afraid of bullies again."

"I can't believe it: Me and Akane Tendo together, grappling, touching..."

"Hey! That comes later: **If** I can find anything in you worth training..."

"I can't believe none of the other boys ever thought to take lessons! I haven't even heard of them following you off of the school grounds, have they?!"

"Yes," Akane said more to herself, stepping back to see just how ridiculous he looked. "You'd think that after throwing themselves at me at school, you'd think they'd try..."

"What is it, Akane? Is something wrong?" he asked, looking down at the costume she had him in.

"That's the way normal boys would behave, isn't it? This school is all part of the craziness! And it all started with—"

"Is this the infamous Ranma Saotome!?"

"Kuno!" Akane looked on Kuno with a new light.

[][][]

It all started at the beginning of the semester when Kuno made his stupid speech: At the _Furinkan HS Speech Contest_ no less!

Dressed in his kendo-gi battle costume, he had stood at the lectern on the stage, and, in front of the **whole** school, said: "The vengeance of heaven is **slow** but sure; if you wish to take Akane out: You must defeat her in combat! I, Tatewaki Kuno, will permit no other terms. Now; am I making myself ab,so,lute,ly **clear**!?" he ended with a threat.

And for that, he won second prize!

[][][]

"Yes. Tremble well, indeed, Ranma Saotome," he said, before rising his wooden sword to that Heaven. "No doubt, Akane hath acquainted you of my reputation: I **am** the undefeated captain of this school's kendo club. The rising new star of the high school fencing world! The sound of my voice strikes fear in the heart of my enemies! My peers call me _The Blue Thunder of Furinkan High!_ "

And as if the sky itself were indeed his to direct, distant thunder could be heard, as another storm rolled in.

"Tatewaki Kuno! Age: 17, here to claim the wedding vow of Akane Tendo: the Soon-to-be Mrs. Kuno!"

"Hey! Who asked you!" Akane yelled at him at last.

"Cannot Ran,ma Saotome speak for himself?! But of course not. He was not man enough to propose to a woman." He gave that insufferable smug smile of his. "He did have to rely on others to give him his heart."

"That is enough, Kuno!"

"Enough, indeed, Akane, my betrothed. Since you are so amenable to the ancient tradition of arranged marriage, I have brought with me a certified marriage broker, well versed in the way."

That's when Akane really noticed the elderly woman standing behind him, well dressed for the part.

And she was being joined by more and more boys and even some girls.

Coming to see the action, no doubt. Well, that was the whole stupid idea, Akane told herself: One last "fight-to-finish-it"!

I hope.

"Mayhap your father would prefer **my** bid. The contract would be most generous, I assure you. Thou art well worth the ransom!"

"And what of my dowry? The dojo?" Akane couldn't believe she hadn't clobbered him yet! But that wasn't the plan.

"If you do so desire it. But why not leave something for your sisters? (Indeed, Nabiki does need all the help she can receive.)

"Do you not understand, yet!? It is **you** that is most valued!"

"What kind of demon are you!?" Akane cried.

"No demon, only a **man**. A man who has taken his most sacred of vows: To love Akane Tendo ever faithfully. Come what may!"

"And does that mean ruining my life, and everybody else's!?"

"I have dedicated myself," he said, fixated on his purpose. "Defend thyself, Ranma!" he charged.

Akane quickly, reflexively, kicked a stone so it rolled to where Kuno could step on it. Sure enough: He fell. Just as the rain fell.

What do you do now, genius?! Akane asked herself. Where is this sign you thought you were going to get?

Something touched her hand; then another.

Water?

"Oh, rain," Akane said, glancing up.

She became transfixed, lost in a time bubble.

I know this rain! I know where every drop has been, where every drop will be. I **know** where every drop is _**now!**_

Heaven was on her side! Vengeance, **was** , **Hers!**

Kuno was getting up. "Ra,n,ma!...!"

Then, "Pw! Owch,ch,ch!" he cried, wincing, and winching again, not noticing Akane's rapidly flicking fingers.

"ChH!" he said, setting himself to his task. " **This** is what you went to China for?! To learn to sting like a bee!? Pin-pricks!" he declared, and strode into the pelting rain of darts; any exposed skin welting.

He's right! Akane groped for a new tact; while her 'Ranma' was caught between running, and doing his duty to his idol.

"Evasive maneuvers, is it, Ranma!? Trying to get in the best position to deliver thy coup-de-gras!?" Kuno said, tracking the boy with his sword, ready to deliver the deciding blow himself.

Akane had to keep switching her hands, as she continued to flick the drops as fast as she could.

Don't get too far away! She prayed to the boy madly running around in circles. And don't get in the way!

"I tire of this! I shall be your bridge to hell before your "Chinese water torture" gets to me!..." he cried, and struck out, just as he was blinded by a wash coming off of Akane's swooshing hand. He barely missed the other boy.

" **Bridge!** That's it!" Akane cried in triumph.

Kuno did his best to attack through his blur; he had other trained senses.

Suddenly his sword began to tremble.

" "Soldiers march: But **not** on bridges! Mere rhythmic, repeated footsteps can bring any bridge down. Like a singer shattering glass"!" Akane repeated one of the Doctor's martial arts lessons.

The sword shook; quaked...

Kuno held back as much of his scream as his discipline allowed, as, to his disbelief and dishonor, his wooden sword shattered, and splintered; just before the force wrested it from his still grasping hands.

"My arm!" he cried, as he fell to his knees, cradling his once good strong arm with the other.

"Is, is it over?" Hikaru panted, coming to a stop; he was sweating profusely.

"Well, Kuno? Is it over?" Akane asked, winded herself, and her own arm sore.

"I, I took my vow...," he said in a hollow voice. "I cannot take yet another failure. It would be the death of me." He struggled to his feet.

His clothing was frayed; his skin was a mess; his arm hung limply at his side.

"I will die on my feet!" he cried, charging at his imagined mocker, just as the rain eased.

"No!" Akane cried, rushing to the boy's defense, flicking what last drops she could find—

And tripped over one the tree's exposed roots.

She fell...and stumbled into 'Ranma'; the boy was knocked down.

And landed hard; and lost his wig and sunglasses.

"What!?" Kuno exclaimed, losing the force of his charge, and quickly slowing to a stunned stop.

" **That** is Ranma? I lost to **that**!?" he said, as he stood dumbfounded.

"I recognize him! He's no 'Ranma'!" , "You're right! Now who is—" , "Gosunkugi!" , "Gosunkugi!? That wimp!?" , "The "Bully Bait" couldn't defeat my kid sister!"

"It was Akane! Akane did it somehow!" , "She is a martial artist!" , "You're right! Only Akane could've done anything so awesome!" , "She's the greatest!" , "I have to have her!" , "Me, too!"

"I love you, Akane!" the boys declared with renewed ardor, as they rushed for her.

"Not again!" Akane cried, getting up to meet her pack of suitors. "How much more of this can we take before somebody is really hurt?!"

[][][]

The side door of the Tendo house opened, and a tattered plastic grocery bag holding wrinkled green clothes was swung in and plunked down.

It was followed by a girl with scratched legs, a ripped, disheveled and wet dress.

Big sister Kasumi was waiting for her with a towel.

"What happened to you!?" Nabiki asked, sticking her head from around the corner that led to the inner hall.

"I fell in the pool," Akane said, taking the offered towel.

"This is the first time you look like you lost a fight," Nabiki said, coming into the back hall.

"Well, I didn't." Then, as she started drying herself, "...barely."

"I told you things were getting worse."

"Nabiki!" Kasumi inserted herself. "This is not the time."

"This is the perfect time! It has got to end: And I'm going to do it!" Nabiki sounded serious.

"No, Nabiki! Don't leave home!" Kasumi begged.

"I _**have**_ to. As long as this family remains together, the curse will continue! I see that now."

"Don't forget Kuno," Akane said.

"Kuno?!"

"I don't know how, but he's involved in the curse of ours, too."

"He is!?" Nabiki made a face. "Oh, yuck! You're right!"

"Your little idea was cursed from the beginning, and like a Fool, I went along and helped it work its way! Some 'destiny' I saw."

"Now, Akane, it isn't your fault," Kasumi tried to reassure her.

"Yes, it is! I was so sure I saw my future I wouldn't listen to you. I **had** to be the martial artist, rushing in to fight to make things right!

"I saw my destiny, alright: I'm destined to be a fool!" she said, pushing her way past her big sisters.

"Akane—" Nabiki said, going after her little sister.

"Nabiki: No!" Kasumi grabbed her by the wrist and held fast.

"Ow. You're hurting my arm."

"Akane's destiny, is now."

"Hunh?" Nabiki wondered, looking up at her big sister, who was seeing something she wasn't.

"One event must follow another. Destiny is probability. Now, Akane's is almost certain." Then Kasumi returned to her usual pleasant self. "Come, help me gather the necessary things."

"Okay..." Nabiki nodded, blinking at her sister's weird mood swing.

[][][]

Out of sight, in the inner hall, Akane had stopped to compose herself. Anger fought against self-pity. Now, the towel around her shoulders, and on her way to clean up, Akane had to pass through the common room. He was still sitting in the meditative pose she'd last seen him in.

"Hmmph!" she said, tossing her head away from him, and continuing on her way. "I know who he's fighting with!"

Then, in mid-stride: "I **DO** know!"

Akane staggered towards her father on weak knees, rapt by the vision.

At last, she found her voice, "You, you're fighting Mom!"

He left his training, to look instead on his daughter, "Akane?"

"Why!? Why didn't you ever tell us?!" she said, falling to her knees near him. "Why couldn't you tell me it was Mommy you were sparring with all these years!?"

He found it hard to start talking about something that had been so personal and private for so long, "Your, your mother, she was one of the best. But still she died."

Akane nodded; she knew very well how her mother had died.

"It was **because** she was a martial artist she died, protecting others."

He could hold back the tears no longer. "Being prepared to lay down your life is one thing, But leaving your loved ones is another! That, that's why I've kept to the house. Despite all my adventuring as a youth, I **have** to be here for you, my children."

"You own a dojo, you've taught others, you've taught us, but you've never really **trained** us; never pushed us to be real martial artists. It made me _**so**_ mad! I thought is was because we weren't sons."

"You're my girls. I'd never trade you for anybody else. But if you were to be real martial artists, you **had** to want it: It had to come from within you!"

"Daddy! I **do** want to be a martial artist! I, I want to be just like you."

"You are your father's daughter. ...and your mother's."

Choking down her tears, Akane wiped a tear that was welling up in her eye. She took a better kneeling position.

Placing her hands on her lap, she bowed. "Father, I wish to marry."

[][][]

The Tendo big sisters stood out in front of their house gate.

"Nabiki, keep my promise to the boy who pretended to be Ranma for me, okay?"

Nabiki nodded, unable to say anything.

"He has money he doesn't know has. I'm sure with your talents, you can both make good use of it."

Nabiki smiled, but it wasn't one of greed.

"And, Kasumi, say goodbye to Dr. Tofu for me, will you?"

"Of course, Akane," Kasumi smiled as bravely as she could manage.

Behind Akane, her father waited, dressed in his do-gi, and carrying a traveling pack and roll.

She, too, was wearing a traveling pack and bedroll, as well as the Mao clothes, with the sunglasses sticking out of a breast pocket. Her feminine curves were hidden beneath the baggy clothes, and the swaddling underneath that helped to flatten them.

Her long, beautiful hair was gone: Cut short. "I guess I can't be called Akane for a while. How does Ryuunosuke sound?"

"It sounds like you, Sis," Nabiki said.

She smiled her appreciation and felt her tears welling up again.

She quickly turned, putting her back to her old life, friends, and family. Donning the glasses, she vowed, "I'll find you, Ranma Saotome! Even if I have to track you all the back to China!"

The two sisters watched as their father and little sister set out on their training mission.

"In hindsight, I should've guessed it would end like this," Nabiki said, shaking her head.

"At least the curse is broken."

"No...," Kasumi said. "The curse has just begun."

"What do you mean?!"

Kasumi had that look again, as if she were seeing something, off in the distance. "The next time we see them, we won't recognize them."

"Are they going to be hurt?! **How** will they be different?!"

Kasumi got her little girl smile back, as she turned to her sister. "Do you know where we can get eucalyptus leaves?"

[][][] DDD [][][]

"Curse you, Ranma Saotome!" Ryoga bolted up in his bed of leaves in a woods. He clutched his blanket, threatening to tear it. "Even if you were not around, you'd **still** take over poor Akane's life!

"Is there no hope of changing your destiny, Akane? Is there...?"

Then he bent his head low, and his voice became hollow, "Is there no hope of I ever having a destiny?


End file.
